Apparatus for trapping bank robbers



F. WEINMANN.

APPARATUS FOR TRAPPING BANK ROBBERS.

APPLlCATION FILED MAR, 12. 1921.

1,406,788. Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

F Wz n 772Q7Z/L INVENTOR WITNESSM ATTORNEY F. WEINMANN.

APPARATUS FOR TRAPPING BANK ROBBERS.

APPucATlon FILED MAR, 12, 1921. 1,406,788. Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

- ez nmai'mlNvENToR WlTNESSzK ATTORNEY F. WEINMANN.

APPARATUS FOR TRAPPING BANK ROBBERS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR, 12, 1921.

1 106,788 Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Ffiezkmann 'INVENTOR FREDERICK WEINMANN,

OF LANSING, MICHIGAN.

APPARATUS FOR TRAPPING BANK ROBBERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 14, 1922.

Application filed March 12, 1921. Serial No. 451,731.

7 '0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FREDERICK WEINMANN, acitizen of the United States, residin at Lansing, in the county ofIngham and tate of Michigan, have invented new and useful Improvementsin Apparatus for Trapping Bank Robbers, of which the following is aspecification.

The object of my present invention is' the provision of an apparatus fortrapping daylight ba-nk robbers, the said apparatus being under thecontrol of a-person in authority in a bank and being adapted when put inoperation to preclude egress from the bank and at the same time permitingress into the bank so that policemen may enter the bank with a viewto arresting the robbers.

The invention also contemplates the provision of means whereby an alarmexterior of the bank may be sounded coincident with the putting intooperation of the trapping apparatusi. e.,' the means for preventingegress from the bank.

To the attainment of the foregoing, the invention consists in theimprovement as hereinafter described and definitely claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof Figure 1 is a generalplan view illustrating a bank equipped with my improvement.

Figures 2 and ,3 are views of that door of the improvement hereinafterreferred to as the ingress door.

Figures 4, 5 and 6 are views showing what will hereinafter be designatedthe egress door of the improvement and the locking mechanism thatcooperates therewith.

Figure 7 is a detail view showing the means for automatically breakingthe electric circuit of the locking means after the said means is putinto operation, and this without disturbing the circuit including theelectric bell which is the type of exterior signal preferably employed.v

Figure 8 is a diagrammatic view illustrative of the electrical circuitsand connections.

Similar numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all ofthe views of the drawings.

By particular reference to Figure 1 it will be observed that the bank 1in addition to the usual furnishings is provided with an ingress door 2and an egress door 3. These doors 2 and 3 are preferably arrangedrelatively to the'interior of the bank and the street door .4 in themanner illustrated, but

this is not of the essence of my invention, and I would therefore haveit understood that it is within the purview of my invention torelatively arrange the doors 2 and 3 in any appropriate manner.

The ingress door 2 is preferably of the construction illustrated inFigures 2 and 3 wherein 5 is a door casing, 6 a turn stile, 7, 7 guardarms carried by one upright wall of the casing 5, 8 a ratchet disk fixedto the shaft of the turn stile 6, and 9 a pawl. The said pawl 9 isadapted to cooperate with the ratchet disk 8 in precluding retrograderotation of the turn stile 6. In other words the teeth of the ratchetdisk 8 and the pawl 9 are so relatively arranged that while a person canfreely turn the turn stile and enter the bank at the side of the turnstile shaft remote from the guard arms 7, no person can turn the turnstile in the opposite direction. From this it follows that the guardarms 7 by cooperation with the arms or wings of the turn stile willpreclude the escape of a robber or any other person through the door 2.The condition just described obtains normally and also when the exitdoor 3 is locked to prevent egress from the bank, and hence it will beappreciated that even when robbers are trapped in the bank there isnothing to prevent policemen from freely entering the bank through thedoor 2 with a view to putting the robbers under arrest.

The egress door 3 includes a casing 10, a turn stile 11, guard arms 12for cooperation with the wings of the turn stile 11, a ratchet disk 13,and a pawl 14. The said pawl 14 normally rests out of engagement withthe teeth of the ratchet disk 13, and hence under normal conditionsthere is nothing to prevent the free rotation of the turn stile 11 by aperson seeking to leave the bank. When.

however, a robbery has taken place and one of t the tellers or any otherperson in the bank desires to trap the robber or robbers it is theprovince of such person to release the pawl 14 and thereby engage saidawl 1 1 with the disk 13, when the pawl wi l manifestly preclude therotation of the turn stile 11 in the direction necessary to enable a vperson to pass outwardly through the turn stile at the opposite side ofthe shaft thereof with reference to the guard arms 12.

The pawl 14 is backed by a spring 15, and i provided in one end with anotch 16. The said notch 16 is designed normally to receive a lateralarm 17 on the armature shaft 18 of an electric motor 19, and thereforethe pawl 14 will normally be held out of engagement with the teeth ofthe ratchet disk 13. When, however, the electric motor is energized ashereinafter described and the armature shaft 18 is turned, the arm 17will be moved out of the notch 16 whereupon the pawl 14 will be pressedby the spring 15 into engagement with the teeth of the disk 13 so as topreclude the turning of the said disk 13 in the direction indicated byarrow.

At 20 is an electrical signal designed to be located in front of thebank or at any other desired point exteriorly thereof; the signal beingpreferably in the form of an electrical bell as illustrated in Figure 8.It will also be observed by reference to Figure 8 that my novelapparatus includes a normally open switch 21 the movable terminal ofwhich is opposed to and operable by the heel of the pawl 14 when thesaid pawl 14 is released and is moved by its spring 15 into engagementwith the teeth of the disk 13. The apparatus further includes a sourceof electric energy 22, a normally open switch 23, preferably, though notnecessarily, of pedal type, and a circuit breaker made up of adielectric disk 24 on the armature shaft 18 of the motor 19, aconductive peripheral strip 25 on, said disk 24, and spaced brushes 26and 27 opposed to the periphery of the disk 24 and designed to beelectricallyconnected normally by the said strip 25. In the preferredarrangement one of the electric circuits is from the plus pole of thesource of energy 22 through a wire 28 with the electric motor 19 andfrom the said motor 19 through a wire 29 to the brush 27 and then by wayof the strip 25, the brush 26, a wire 30, one terminal of the normallyopen pedal switch 23, the other terminal of the said pedal switch, and awire 31 back to the negative pole of the source of energy 22. The signalor bell 20 is arranged in a parallel circuit as shown-i. e., one side ofthe bell is connected through a wire 32 with a wire 31, and the otherside of the bell is connected through a wire 33 with the movableterminal of the switch 21.

When a robbery has taken place or when a teller or other person inauthority is aware of the fact that robbers are in the bank it is theprovince of such person to step on and close the switch 23, whereuponthe motor 19 will be energized and operated to release the pawl 14 inthe manner and for the purpose before described. After the said pawl 14is released from the armature shaft 18 of the bell 20 will be soundeduntil the switch 21 is opened by the resetting of the pawl 14 inengagement with the armature shaft 18 and the rearrangement of the strip25 so as to bridge the space between the brushes 26 and 27; it beingunderstood in this connection that the movable terminal of the switch 21is resilient type.

When the egress door 3 is locked in the manner described to trap robbersin the bank, it will be apparent that free ingress to the bank may behad through the door 2 so that policemen can readily enter the bank forthe arrest of the robbers, and this I consider a highly importantfeature of my invention.

Notwithstanding the practical advantages of my novel apparatus asdescribed, it will be appreciated that the apparatus is inexpensive inconstruction especially when it is considered that the turn stiles maybe of storm-door type, and that the apparatus is susceptible of beinginstalled without undue expense.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters-Patent, is

In apparatus for trapping bank robbers, the combination of a turn stilehaving a toothed disk, a pawl adapted in one position to cooperate withsaid disk and prevent turning of the turn stile, an electro-mechanicaldevice adapted to normally hold the pawl out of engagement with thetoothed disk, a normally open switch, and a source of electric energyarranged in a normally open circuit with said electro-mechanical deviceand the switch whereby when the switch is closed the electro-mechanicaldevice will be energized and the pawl will be released for engagementwith the toothed disk; the said electro-mechanical device being in theform of an electric motor with an arm on the armature shaft thereof toengage a notch in the pawl, and the armature shaft being equipped with adielectric disk on which is a conductive strip, and the said strip beingnormally arranged in the motor circuit, whereby after energization ofthe motor to release the pawl the motor circuit will be automaticallybroken.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

FREDERICK WEINMANN.

